


Gift

by kwallox



Series: Rumbelle Secret Santa [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 13:53:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13055310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kwallox/pseuds/kwallox
Summary: In the early days of her time in the Dark Castle, Belle decides she and Rumplestiltskin will communicate with each other, whether he likes it or not.Originally written for Rumbelle Secret Santa 2014 and posted on tumblr. Can be read as a prequel to my previous fic Springtime Adventure in the Dark Garden.





	Gift

Belle traced the edges of the thick volumes as she walked around the room, hardly believing she was standing in her own personalised library. It had been a month since she had arrived back at the Dark Castle with Rumplestiltskin and she still couldn’t come to terms with the man’s offer. With the so called ‘monsters’ kindness.

The day was drawing to a close, the night creeping in. Belle wondered as she examined the shelves of books when exactly Rumplestilskin had collected the books. Not for the first time she wondered if he had been assembling the library long before the half-hearted attempt on Robin Hoods life. How else could the library be in such condition by the time they had gotten back from the forest? The idea made her feel warmth in her stomach. It made her even more happy than she was to think that Rumplestilskin had done this for her at a time when he was openly hostile. 

She could not ask him however, considering he seemed to be avoiding her as much as possible these days. Speaking only to her on matters of the household, than immediately running off, as if terrified of her. The idea of that almost made her laugh. The fearsome beast, afraid of the delicate beauty. There was a heavy dose of irony in that.

However, the thought did leave a bad taste in her mouth. Belle, as much as she liked to be on her own at times, was always desperate for social interaction. Of course, even the most introverted people she knew needed to have a conversation every once in a while. She sighed in frustration, abandoning her books to lie on her bed. At times like this, when she remembered the crippling loneliness, even books were not enough to fill the empty hole.

Belle played with the scarf around her neck, even though it was only a few weeks into Autumn, the Dark Castle felt far too cold and dank for this time of the year. 

——————–

Belle prepared the cups of tea, a ball of nerves in the pit of her stomach. Belle had prepared Rumplestiltskin numerous amount of tea in the time she had been here; she knew how she liked it. Two spoonfuls of cream and sugar. This time however, she prepared her own preference alongside his. Black with one spoon of sugar.

She had never taken tea with her master before. She usually left Rumplestilskin alone to do whatever it is that he does, whilst she continued with the duties prescribed by her master. Today however was different, she had not spoken to anyone much at all in weeks. The isolation was killing her. Rumplestiltskin was going to talk to her, even if she had to force him to.

Wrapping her scarf around her neck again, Belle ignored the pounding in her heart and sickness in her stomach and began her walk to the hall. There were many flights of stairs to climb to get to the kitchens and her feet were dragging by the time she got to the top. Having to walk up and down those stairs three or four times a day was already wearing her down.

Rumplestiltskin was sitting by his spinning wheel, as usual, when she walked in. He looked up expectantly as she came in, not noticing the extra cup. It wasn’t until he was seated at the table, the tray in front of him that he saw. He looked up at her in confusion, his eyebrows slightly raised.

Belle breathed deeply because saying, “I thought we could have tea together today?”

It may be because, in this moment, she was feeling slightly self-conscious, but the look on his face seemed to suggest he thought she was mad.

“You thought we would have tea together?”

“Yes" she said as cheerfully as she could.

“You don’t need to do that Belle.”

Perhaps if she wasn’t so lonely she would have seen then that he was pushing her away because he thought she would not want to be in his presence. He thought he was doing her a service. But all she felt at that moment was exasperation. She was not going to sit up in her room with nothing but books to associate with.

“Well, you are going to sit and have tea with me anyway” she said forcefully and sat down, giving him his cup before taking her own.

Rumplestilskin closed his mouth, not bothering to protest again. Belle looked at him expectantly, one elbow rested on the stable, supporting her head. They didn’t say anything for a long time, Belle shivering slightly at the cold. 

“Are you alright?” he asked finally, seeming to have noticed her discomfort.

“Oh, no, it’s just very cold” Belle said, rubbing her arms to try and circulate heat.

Suddenly the air became much warmer, the castle a little less dank.

“I forget sometimes about the coldness of others” he explained almost, almost sheepishly.

“Oh, so you don’t feel the cold?” Belle asked, her interest suddenly piqued.

“No milady” he said with a slight grin. “I have just used magic to warm myself for a long time.”

Belle nodded, admittedly feeling a little satisfied at finding out even this small bit of information. She felt like she had accomplished something, unveiled even just a small part of the man before her.

Belle considered all the questions she had then, about the curious things he did, the deals he made. She desperately wanted to learn more about this strange man. She wanted to ask him questions, about magic, about it’s different properties. But, this was the first time in weeks that she had seen him for longer than a few minutes. She was terrified her questioning may result in him locking himself away. In the end, the curiosity outweighed the hesitation.

“Rumplestilskin, can I ask you a question?”

“I believe you just did” he said in his high-pitched, almost sing song voice. She giggled at his joke, looking down nervously before catching the pleased look on his face. Which of course, went away the minute he noticed she was looking. He was always trying to hide his true emotions from her.

“What kind of deals do you make?” She looked up trying to gorge his reaction. He merely looked shocked at her inquiry. After a long, drawn out pause, he finally spoke.

“Why would you ask that?” He asked, his voice thick.

“Well, I… I was just wondering” Belle said weakly, unsure how to answer.

“You were just wondering?”

“It just seems so interesting, you know. The different kinds of magic you procure.”

“Right” he said curtly with a note of finality.

Belle couldn’t help it; despite every inch of her body telling her this was not the time, she just couldn’t help it. She was, according to Gaston, more curious than was good for her. “You didn’t answer the question.”

“You would do my lady, not to asked stupid questions” he snapped.

Belle decided not to push him any further. She kept her mouth shut, looking at the cups of tea sitting on the table. She knew better than to react, to continue trying to unravel the mystery before her, at least for now.

A heavy silence descended over the two, the air thick with unspoken hostility. Belle grasped her cup of tea in her hand, running her thumb over the structure, the thick silence suffocating. Belle could hardly stand it.

“We shouldn’t fight” she said softly, looking up to find Rumple too grasping his cup awkwardly, as he looked up at her words. His face still held hints of anger, with the accompanied emotion of… regret? “It doesn’t do any good to either of us.”

“Quite right” Rumple grumbled before looking down at his hands, tracing the jagged edges of the cup she had chipped what felt like years ago.

The silence however dragged on, despite her attempts at peace making. Belle was just about to give up, declare this day a failure when she heard him speak.

“Y-you’ve done good work around the castle… Belle” she said her name hesitantly, as if unsure.

“Thank you” Belle said brightening up. It had taken Belle quite a while to get settled in and do her duties accurately. She was horrible when she first moved in, but, as she had screamed at Rumple when he had criticized the very undercooked steak she had made, if he wanted someone who could do housework to perfection he would have asked a maid instead of a noble woman.

“But ah, I was thinking of relieving your duties slightly.”

“Oh” Belle said disheartened. “I guess not good enough.”

“No, no” he said, eyes widening slightly. “You’ve done very well. But, maybe you should hold off on the cooking.”

Belle couldn’t help but smile in amusement at that. She had improved in some ways, but her cooking, even she would admit, still wasn’t up to a very high standard. Still she couldn’t help but wonder if there were other reasons he was allowing her this small hint of free time.

“You have a beautiful scarf” he said suddenly, taking her off guard. Her hand went to her throat gripping the scarf.

“Oh ah thanks.”

“Quite useful” he said wistfully.

“Well, you can have it, if you’ll like” Belle said, figuring he’ll use the material for some magic potion. “I don’t need it anymore.”

Rumple grumbled an agreement as she started unravelling her scarf from around her neck. He sat up expectantly as she pulled the scarf free and leaned forward to hand her scarf over.

Suddenly, she realised how close he was, startled not at the closeness, but the way it made her feel. Her heart beat felt rapid as they both looked up startled, catching each other’s eye before quickly looking away.

Belle leant back quickly, noticing Rumplestiltskin do the same. They sat in silence, Belle’s heart beating fast and it truly felt like butterflies were erupting in her stomach. The silence dragged both looking down and away from each other as the seconds ticked by.

“Ah” Rumple grumbled, standing up quickly. “I’m sorry, Milady. I have ah, spinning to do.”

“It’s okay, I should get back to the washing anyway” Belle said.

“Ah, yes” Rumple mumbled, looking anywhere at her. They smiled at each other, awkwardly shuffling around so Rumple could get to his spinning wheel and Belle could clean up the remainder of their tea.

She gathered the empty tea cups, suddenly feeling sick at the thought of walking away now. She could barely stand the thought of returning to her empty pit of loneliness once again, only to see Rumplestiltskin a few months down the line.

He’d made such a fuss just for today, she could barely stand the thought of how he’d react if she said she wanted to see him more often. 

“R-Rumple.”

He jumped slightly, sitting at spinning wheel. She looked back, noticing his fingers, gentle, running over the fabric of her scarf. He quickly shoved it away.

“Would you mind if I could come back again tomorrow” she asked at the door, holding her breath.

“What?” He looked up from his mantle, confusion on his face.

“If it’s alright with you, I’d like to come back tomorrow” and after a pause. “And, well the day after that…”

“Why?”

“Well, it’s just so terribly lonely is all” Belle explained sheepishly.

“Ah, I see” Rumple’s face lightened with understanding. “You desire my company because you need to relieve your isolation.”

“What? No, no. I don’t just want to talk to you because there’s no one else. I want to talk to you because you’re nice to be around.” It was the truth, Belle really did like spending time with Rumplestilskin, especially since the incident with the thief. This however seemed to confuse Rumple even more. 

Rumple stared at her for a few minutes, his dark eyes looking sweeping over her. Belle felt self-conscious as he stared, and… something else. The feeling from earlier returned, the butterflies in her stomach. Peculiarly, she had a strong desire to make herself presentable, for more reasons than the fact that he was her master. She wanted him to like her, to find her beautiful.

“Yes, I think that would be okay” Rumple said, his voice thick.

Belle smiled appreciatively and mumbled a thank you, a goodbye before leaving him alone. Her heartbeat was rapid as she walked away, her ears ringing slightly. She knew what this meant, she had felt like this before. Warriors and travellers, come to stay for a couple days before going on their way. Fleeting crushes, forgotten after a few weeks. But…

But she could hardly feel something for Rumplestiltskin. It wasn’t… Wasn’t right for her to have feelings for her master and she did, afterall, know the man she was dealing with. He may be capable of true kindness, he did after gift her with a library and allow the thief his freedom. But he was also capable of horrendous acts of cruelty. He tortured a man for days and, if half the rumours were true, even if Belle didn’t give much stock in rumours, he was capable of much worse.

It was just a crush. Just a small insignificant crush, she told herself. Just like it was with those warriors, it’ll fade eventually.

Feeling slightly better, she made her way down to the kitchens, pleased she would only have to make the journey once a day now. Just a small insignificant crush.


End file.
